Early start today - well - earlier. We went into Waterford on the Passage East ferry. We gave a lift to one of the local lads on his way over to the supermarket to stock up on beer; he'd run out after a two week bender!!

We were a spectacle in Waterford. At a guess I would imagine that no-one takes dogs into towns in Ireland, and certainly not a greyhound, and definitely not two greyhounds and a lurcher. The number of comments both to us and about us was amazing. We had lunch al fresco outside a pub, and either people looked in amazement, or commented incredulously that "they're greyhounds". The exception was a young lad in his push chair and his gran. He was fascinated by Monty and Jack. I told his gran they were OK so they came over and he gave them both a stroke. A bit later he came back with mum and gran, and insisted on giving them another stroke each. Who knows, maybe sometime in the future when it matters he'll remember two greyhounds in Waterford when he was little.

When we got back the Beasts and I went for a walk up the hill that you have to take if you don't want the ferry (which everyone does). I was trying to find somewhere that we could overlook the Barrow estuary, with no success. On the way up a car pulled up along side, and an Antipodean accent (fairly sure it was Australian,but could have been a Kiwi) asked "Godda winna there mate?". I think the English accent reply of "No, they don't race." Came as a bit of a surprise to him. What they actually wanted was to know the quickest way to Waterford. They'd just missed the Passage East ferry, and were a bit concerned as to how long it would be before the next one. I told them that if they did a U-ey, they'd probably just make it back down the hill in time.


Sunset over the Barrow

As we wandered, minding our own business, we passed a farm, and what I will refer to as the Troll Dog came out and gave us what for. The Troll Dog was a sheepdog (covered in what I will politely call mud - it was a dairy farm), intent on guarding what it considered it's domain. Monty just wanted to get away, Kai and Jack on the other hand, while normally happy to socialise with other dogs, were prepared to stand their ground. While patently I am a dog lover, this was one of the most evil looking things I have ever seen. A tactical withdrawal back down the lane was hastily made, followed for some distance by the Troll dog.

Now, fed and watered, the Beasts are totally crashed.

No reply from Lorraine, so as we are in such a naff mobile signal area, I sent her a text just to make sure she had our details.